Michelle Branch.Photo: courtesy Michelle Branch
Amid a series of public ups and downs inMichelle Branch’s marriage to theBlack Keys' Patrick Carney, the “Everywhere” singer-songwriter’s three children are doing well.
Last month, Branchposted — then deleted — a tweetaccusing her husband,the Black Keys musician Patrick Carney, of cheating on tour while she was home with their 7-month-old daughter,Willie. After sharing the post, the singer-songwriter, 39, was arrested on asince-dismissed domestic assault chargefor allegedly slapping Carney, 42. She filed for divorce days later and wrote in a statement at the time, “With such small children, I ask for privacy and kindness.”
“I definitely shouldn’t have taken to Twitter to say anything. Here I am saying, ‘Please respect our privacy,’ but I’m the one who said it to the world,” Branch tells PEOPLE, over Zoom from her Nashville home, in this week’s issue.
Patrick Carney of the Black Keys and Michelle Branch.Jeff Kravitz/Getty
While she may have regrets, Branch has long been known for wearing her vulnerability on her sleeve. One month after the dramatic episode, though, she’s honest but careful when addressing the situation. “I have to be respectful of the fact that I’m not the only person involved in this. We have very small children,” says Branch, who also has a 4-year-old son, Rhys, with Carney, and a 17-year-old child, Owen (who uses they/them pronouns), with her ex-husbandTeddy Landau. “I’ve promised Patrick I won’t speak about it publicly.”
Branch doesn’t consider it crucial for Owen to attend college, but she says “they are so intelligent” and independently interested in two potential topics to study: animation and paleontology. “If you were to run into Owen at any given moment, there’s a notebook with a million different characters going on. They’re constantly drawing,” she says. “The world is their oyster… But Mom is calling it now — they’re probably going into animation of some sort.”
College life will be a brand-new experience for Owen, but Branch predicts they’ll at least enjoy it more than life at home with a needy infant sibling. “On any given day I’m like, ‘Owen, I need to take a shower. Hold your sister, make a grilled cheese for your brother,'” she notes. “So I’m sure Owen will be excited to be out of the house, away from that.”
For more from Michelle Branch, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.
source: people.com
